B.J. Surhoff and Deivi Cruz have compormising pictures of Orioles management. Darren Dreifort's latest injury has the Dodgers pondering his future yet again. The Brewers may have grasped the concept of sunk costs. The Phillies' bullpen is a mess. News, notes, and Kahrlisms from 25 major league teams in the latest edition of Transaction Analysis.

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Let's say you're a pitcher of some repute, and you're making mad cash at the front end of a long-term contract. You signed with a mediocre team that plays in a hostile environment as part of Revision 12 of that team's ongoing quest to solve the riddle of their home field.

Let's say you're a pitcher of some repute, and you're making mad cash at the front end of a long-term contract. You signed with a mediocre team that plays in a hostile environment as part of Revision 12 of that team's ongoing quest to solve the riddle of their home field. You started off your first year strong, but opposing batters have been teeing off on you for the last 15 months or so, to the tune of:

When I called back, my experience was a lot like Rob Neyer's. I felt like
a student being lectured by an insecure professor for disagreeing with the thesis of his latest book. The commissioner explained
that while he's thick-skinned and had grown accustomed to invective, I was simply wrong about numerous key facts. He spent the
next 40 minutes itemizing them, starting at the top of the article and working his way down.

Sweeney represents the final chance at redemption for David Glass and the Kansas City Royals. For years, Royals fans have been
fed the party line that the team had no money with which to pursue free agents, and that story washed down easy for a while,
because in its place we were offered the promise of an exciting young ballclub that was built from within, a team that could be
competitive without outside help.

Dave Littlefield had an opportunity to make an immediate impact after being hired as the Pirates' general manager last June. He could have traded Jason Kendall and Brian Giles to contending teams for a bushel of top prospects and started a new era in Pittsburgh baseball.

Dave Littlefield had an opportunity to make an immediate impact after being hired as the Pirates' general manager last June. He could have traded Jason Kendall and Brian Giles to contending teams for a bushel of top prospects and started a new era in Pittsburgh baseball.

He didn't do that, of course, and now the Bucs enter spring training with the same problems they faced a year ago. The major-league roster lacks talent. The farm system lacks top prospects, thanks largely to the Pirates' jones for toolsy players and their inability to teach plate discipline. The team has posted exactly zero winning seasons since Barry Bonds left town nine years ago. Rebuilding efforts have failed miserably.

For Littlefield to make a positive impact in his first full season as GM, he'll have to ask himself a question that should guide most of his decisions. Namely, "where in the success cycle does my team stand?"

The cycle is a baseball continuum on which every team resides. To measure a team's place in the cycle, assess its talent in the majors and minors. Can the players in the organization, mixed with a few trade acquisitions and free agents the team could reasonably sign, yield a competitive team? More precisely, can the team expect to compete while its current core of major-league players remain productive and under contract?

Apply this test to the Pirates. Can they reasonably expect to build a strong enough supporting cast around Kendall, Giles and Aramis Ramirez to compete this year? What about in 2003 or 2004? A weak major-league roster, a barren farm system and a pile of lousy long-term contracts say the odds are against them.

While asking where your team stands may seem like a simple proposition, how many teams truly take stock of their entire organization on a regular basis? How many devise a coherent plan for success? How many see that plan through by making consistent, intelligent decisions?

He didn't do that, of course, and now the Bucs enter spring training with the same problems they faced a year ago. The major-league
roster lacks talent. The farm system lacks top prospects, thanks largely to the Pirates' jones for toolsy players and their
inability to teach plate discipline. The team has posted exactly zero winning seasons since Barry Bonds left town nine years
ago. Rebuilding efforts have failed miserably.

For Littlefield to make a positive impact in his first full season as GM, he'll have to ask himself a question that should guide
most of his decisions. Namely, "where in the success cycle does my team stand?"